VK ON EDUCATION .......

EDUCATION IN INDIA

Before we discuss what Education means in India, let us analyze the factors responsible for the present status – right or wrong.

Mind Status & Bringing up of a child

The MAJOR problem here is, who boast that (it is true also) India is the strongest in youth power,  the education is not student oriented;  the policy is based on pass percentage.

1.       A child is brought up by parents (with their full influence & socialization) till 5 years of age.

(in fact this socialization starts since the time the child is in the womb of the mother)

2.       Between 5 & 12 (roughly) it is by School activities, the Teachers & the School  environment.

3.       Then the friends who influence to a very great extent.

4.       Last the Society.

This is inevitable. The child is still mouldable, say up to 18 years and then he forms his own stable opinions (‘ he’ holds good for ‘she’ also)

1.       Up to 5 years, the parents play a very vital role. They have to live their life as a model for the child in building up their values of life.

2.       The child should be strengthened in vocabulary in mother tongue, by talking only in mother tongue,  not preach but Practice so that the child learns the virtues.  It should not be influenced by the  thought,  what the others(relatives , friends, society) say.

3.       Parents should be convinced themselves about what they are doing.

4.       The child should not be sent to School

5.       He should be taught to express first orally, then by writing, exposed to number of stories, encouraged to do whatever the child wants-like singing, drawing…anything; but should be natural. Only the environment should be provided without any influence.

6.       Taking the child away from the secured shelter at home to new environment at 2 ½ years is damaging to the mental health & attitude.  It is too early an age for the child to get influenced by people other than parents.

7.       The parents send the kids to so called ‘Kinder Garden’ –some of the reasons are

(a)    The mother finds it difficult to manage the child at home

(b)   Mother is not able to spend quality time with the child.

(c)    Worse is the case of working mothers

(d)   The mother  is influenced by others; compare with others and feels her child is missing out on something that other children are getting.

(e)   The mother feels that this way the child will learn to mingle & play with other children.

In olden days most of the families had several children, which was a learning platform for the child. Even otherwise before 5 they need not be exposed to variety.

8.       When the child is born (may be even before), the parents decide what the child should be & start brainwashing the child. That is why, IIT coaching has come down (as a Big Business) to 6^th Std. level.  It is not yet started to pregnant women!!!!!

9.       The mother starts her perennial comparisons with other children, other Schools, talks to friends non stop about School, teachers etc. (good or bad) and this leaves a very great impact on the child’s mind and this action has a reaction later, follows the law of nature that energy can not be lost.

Though I can still elaborate on this, I will stop here & put in a nut shell that Education till 5 years of age should be indirect, the child learning by observing, feeling, smelling, touching, rather than from Black Board within four walls, with a rigid time table. 

From 5 to 10

[One Major development  before 5 yrs. is the hand & eye coordination and similar coordinations with multiple sense organs.  Parents should not feel excited about “my child talks only English, he can recite number of Rhymes, can identify colors” etc. etc…..the list is long. It is more damaging when these important developments are compared with other kids & discussed at home. The child is exposed to an unhealthy competition at this age itself. If we think the child can not understand  these comparisons when he is 2 or 3, we are mistaken.  The child starts worrying about satisfying the mother by learning with the pace the mother wants and develops psychological pressures at that early formative years-which continues through life. ]

1^st Standard to 5^th Standard (Primary)

When the child crosses 5 yrs, it is natural but he starts seeking attention by the outside world. The first in line is the teacher.

In my opinion, this should be the age a child enters school. – mentally & physically ready to take more and needs it also.

The teacher has the greatest impact. Unfortunately teachers start talking about “finishing portion”, preparing the child for exams- which is very unhealthy approach.

The child needs knowledge – not facts. The subjects the child is exposed to (not taught) should be, writing in Mother tongue, speaking in one more language other than mother tongue (see I also struggle to get the spelling of tongue correctly),  Arithmetic and lots of activities.

Unfortunately the fundamentals of Arithmetic also is taught in an abstract way, the child not exposed to the logic behind it, which creates a fear of Maths, which is irreversible.

Make the child get used to the home away from home, not by giving chocolates by showing only love & not scaring the child with facts to be learnt by heart. 

All teaching should be activity based.  The number of topics taken should be limited; but with more depth.

For instance one topic can be chosen, more familiar for the child, say WATER.

Spoken English should be taught (not explicit grammer classes) by making the child talk about water. In the process the child learns new words, spellings (simple words). The child need not be exposed to compound statements.

(With all our pride, educating children in English medium, so many of children of today-even at Xth grade-  are not able to either comprehend or form flawless sentences.  I started my Alphabet learning in VI th standard. Till then only Tamil. But after that the learning process was faster, as the mind could assimilate better and by that time I entered college with English Medium, I was quite comfortable with the Language.)

Other scientific factors about water, geography, resource, resource management-all could be based on water.  Purification, health facts…….every thing.

Another Major draw back is – the teacher wants to show all her knowledge rather than encourage the child to imagine. The child can not visualize everything. The child has to be shown.  Activity based education, projects based on the theme of the month (one month-one theme) will definitely ensure a better learning process.  Lot of scope should be given to the child to imagine / think rather than reading from a book. (padam paarthu kathai solluvathellam poye pochu!!)

In a discussion on ABL, the teachers in charge of the same were all against it, giving united opinion, it takes longer time; how to finish the portion!!! How does the child know the pressure of the teachers to finish the portion??? 

The syllabus should be restricted to fewer topics, each done with greater depth. There is no depth in the education. Too many topics, less content in each, the contents are disjointed, there is no coherent, natural development of concepts.

The atmosphere should be not teaching atmosphere, but learning  atmosphere.  The children should be exposed to open area with more games, & they will learn co-existance in a natural way.

Mugging up should be totally banned. That is not learning. No home work. Mother is not there to teach the subjects. It is the teachers’ responsibility. The child should not be reminded of school, once he is back. But when he talks about school, give patient hearing without comment.  If the mother starts questioning about school activities, then the child, when attending school, will have the pressure that he has to report to the mother; so he has to learn everything by heart.

{Mind has a very great control over our body. There are articles “Mind & Matter” written by American authors..interesting facts..but most of the text give examples  from Indian Scriptures, philosophy & practice !!! Unfortunately we ignore ‘what is Indian’ & accept blindly when the same goes to West & comes back well presented in English. (1) Our writings are in Sanskrit… we won’t learn. If the prayer song in Parliament is in Sanskrit we will protest (2) We attach more value to western writing, as if they know better than us.}

 Let us come to the age grout 10,11,12… 6^th , 7^th, 8^th classes.

What I am trying to convey is how Education (not Academics) should take care of mental well being of a child.

This phase is one of the crucial periods. Till then the child tries to follow elders-parents, teachers. Now he starts thinking on his own; discusses his thoughts with friends. When there is disagreement, gets confused. Lacks knowledge of the so called priorities the parents & teachers advocate. This confusion where he is not allowed a natural transformation results in lowering of academic performances. All parents start worrying, “my son was very good in studies till 5^th. Now he is sliding down-not within 10 ranks (I don’t know why this 10 is a magic number. Parents are happy with ‘within 10’ & anxious with ‘above 10’ & worried if it is 10!!!)

At that age the child is mentally prepared to take more; but still not ready for abstract concepts. Our brain has several areas, each having a specific function. (Language, Calculations, Cultural development, fine arts, analytical thinking etc. etc. Each part has to be excersised for development of that part. The child is still not in a position to decide how his future should be. So the question put to the child “what will you become when you grow up is absurd” . The child’s answer is different to different persons, asking the same questions or they answer what the parents like.

GENE plays one of the major roles in what the child turns out to be.  The genetic factor can be inherited from the ancestors, since 5 generations. The pedigree of 5 generations is really very big.  There is no point in discussing this rather than accepting it.

(I want to mention about an advertisement; it goes like this; the son, on returning from  school, declares he got 1^st prize, a medal or something. The parents want to establish, the genes is from mother’s side… from father’s side, assuming it should be for academics. Then the child will say, the prize he earned is for a drawing, which he spreads & shows)

Genetically, if the child is very good at something, he will, at any cost, exhibit the talent and grow well in that field aggressively. One cannot suppress this. If no such natural talent is exhibited, it doesn’t mean that the child is good for nothing; but has inherited little of many things.

Ms.Sudha Raghunathan’s daughter has not taken to singing but dancing. But not public performances. Ms.Nithya shree has a strong  genes in Music. But if her little daughter also sings well (yes-she does), on one side it is Genes; on the other it is the atmosphere at home.

 (More to be added about genetics)

At the age-10 to 13 years (6^th,7^th, 8^th Class roughly), the environment plays a very vital role. That is why the School curriculum, atmosphere, teachers, head of the institution & of course the parents should be careful. The child is still in formative years.

The subjects could be distinguished now as Maths, Science (not specific Sciences),  History, 2/3 Languages etc. Other activities should be, for example, Music, drawing, painting, needle work, carpentry, electrical gadgets, electronics etc.  These activities should only be practicals. There should not be any theory to write down & learn.

Maths  of course should be taught to improve the analytical thinking of the child. Drilling is essential but not to the extent that the child starts hating it. I know a school, where they give Home Work, but the parents are not supposed to compel the child. If the child doesn’t do the home work, the child is not given new concept till he becomes clear with the earlier one. This works wonders. Without compulsion the child does his home work. But this should not be made very obvious humiliating the child.

Handling this age is like walking on a rope; at the same time easy if teachers and parents are more natural.

Science (Geography also is a science) should be taught relating each and every concept with day to day life situation. It is quite possible if the teacher puts effort.

[One thing I have to emphasise here. A teacher should be a continuous learner; not only from books but also from the students.]

The fundamentals of any topic should be taught leaving much to the imagination of the child. I came across a question - after the teacher taught about Universe, Gravitation, some Geography etc.- “write a note on what changes  you will come across if you happen to travel from SUN to EARTH. It is a very beautiful, thought provoking question where the answer will be slightly different with different child. This should not be corrected with red ink with lots of red underlines, x marks. The student should be made to read, not ridiculed & if the concept somewhere is wrong corrected in a lovely way.  Kids are very sensitive at this age. There is a metabolic transformation  in them and the harmones are disturbed.(This hormonal disturbances continue till 18 years – maximum between 13 to 18) So, if a child is criticized, it wounds the child some time beyond repair.

The topics in each subject should be limited and gone to depth. For instance, there are number of topics in Science like Heat, Light, Electricity, Magnetism, Sound, Atoms, force, work, power, energy etc. etc. (These are all classified as Physics-knowledge of Physical world. I couldn’t avoid this as my Major subject happens to be Physics !!!) All the topics need not be touched in one year, all superficially.  Few per year and taught little more deep. (Books to be given to the students need lot of changes. They should be more attractive, number of illustrations, not lots of text.) The students should be encouraged to do some simple projects, guidelines given by the teacher.

Most of the projects given now are for the parents than for the children. Some parents are creative and make good ones. Some may not. When they are presented, the child with an appealing one is praised (it is a complement for the parent who made it) and the others may feel offended & get angry with parents who are not creative. These projects or models are to bring out the understanding  and imagination of the child and not for exhibition !!!

At this juncture, I have to necessarily say something about the anxious parents and the wrong system of our Education & methodology. Till 5^th Std. the teacher provides all possible questions and the answers for them (to be re-written exactly in the same way!) in all the subjects, including Arithmetic(!) – the worst part is they all are written on the Black Board and the children made to copy.  At the time of copying, the child’s mind WILL wander with 50% concentration in what is being written. The child doesn’t bother to understand. It is just like photo copying. As the child copies, if the child by chances expresses his any doubt, he is suppressed by the teacher commenting, “see properly and write in the same way” .Some schools are even great. If they can afford, they provide photo copies. Even that 50% concentration is gone.

The worst scenario is at home. The mother takes the note books, happy that the question and answers are provided, starts drilling the child, once making him recite, once making him writing. This process is interluded with scoldings and beatings ( the typical common dialogues are: in colloquial Tamil “yen ippadi en uyirai vaangare;  oppichithaan vilayaada pOlam; vilayaadittu vandhu ezhuthi kaamikkanum; write aa ezhuthina T.V. le cartoon paarkkalaam; nee teacher kitta adi vaangathaan pOre; (then konjam konjals) samatthaa ezhuthummaa; un friendai paaru, avan ezhuthi mudichittaan; (that friend will look like a villain to the child)…… we can go on quoting phrases, typical phrases, surprisingly the story, screen play, dialogue, action are all similar in all the houses.

Then goes a series of phone calls with mothers of other children; how she is managing her son!! Bla…bla…bla…. I don’t have to elaborate, as every one has gone through this experience.

Till 5^th the mother  has the absolute pleasure of controlling(!) and monitoring the child’s performance. She also is proud that she has given her full attention and but for her, the rank within 10(!) would not have been possible.

Next curse is the written examination. In the exam hall, the child is more anxious to reproduce as his mother’s face is a night mare!! As soon as the child comes out of the room, the mother bounces on him, takes the question paper, checks first if she knows the answers for all the questions and then cross examines the child(the second exam!). In between comments like, “I told you this, I taught you this, I made you practice this etc.etc. She also is worried how other children have written compared to her own. (relative grading).  She counts the mistakes and keeps on repeating, he has made two / three mistakes; 2 / 3 marks gone etc. 

Let me stop here and ask; why this system of question / answers, learn by heart, repeat verbatim as dictated by the teacher!!! All because of the marks. Our lives are unfortunately linked with numbers in every stage. (this is a topic by itself.)

So the present system of examination should be scrapped fully. There is no need to assess the child in numbers. This puts the child as well as the parents under great pressure. During school going age the child witnesses lots of arguments, fights, ego clash etc. etc. between the parents & the child is at a loss to know which side to take. (This is again a separate topic by itself)

  

With the above back ground the child enters the age group 10 to 13, 6^th, 7^th, 8^th.

Already I have discussed about the subjects the child should be exposed to.  Here I have to mention about History. History classes are found boring to the students because, the content is not very good.  History is a must to learn subject. This instills a knowledge about our culture, government then & now, life styles of various periods I the past….etc. But the teacher handling the subject alone can create the interest.  Why can’t they narrate everything making the students have a mental picture? The years & events is a torture. Testing the same in exams is worse.  History is not only to learn the past; but also to guide our future life.

Civics should not be taught, again, with lots of theory. The child should be given a basic idea how a Government runs.

This reminds me of the two periods (1 ½ hours) session in my School days, named as citizenship training. This was for the middle school, part of curriculum, but not part of written examination. These classes were run under the shelter of a tree(much to the pleasure of the students);  the teachers narrates the history of freedom struggle, national leaders, make the children compose songs, create stories, enact plays related to general topics(not social issues), sing, learn little bit of cooking, first aid, etc. I feel most of the values of life & Indian culture are imparted this way, indirectly and has deep impact and transforms a child to be a better citizen.

Social problems, disaster management etc. need not be a part of discussion as the child is mentally not prepared to understand them. They have to, at this stage, learn to co-exist, understand some of their duties towards parents, the value of getting educated and modify their behavior.

During this period also, we have to carefully draft a plan to test the child and not create an aversion towards examination as a testing tool of their memory power.

Still, at this age group, the children are not yet ready for abstract concepts and the methodology of our testing with a question paper in hand, trying to recall from the text book and reproduce in the paper, the so called answers.

They are not going to achieve anything by such examinations. These examinations do not prepare the children for their future.

There can be continuous assessment and grading. Again, what is the purpose of these assignments & grading? Doesn’t it again compare the students and give report on relative performance????

A matter to be discussed by educationists, psychologists, sociologists.

I would like to mention an experience here. Once, as there was no power, the higher secondary students, 10 in number, were made to squat under a tree and the teacher sat on a small platform around the tree & taught the lesson, with a stand by black board, in case she had to necessarily use the board. The happiness on the faces of the children, who are within four walls of the class room always, were extremely happy and fresh!!!!

When a child enters 9^th standard,  the syllabus increases by a sudden jump.  But the child can take it. The subjects can be divided as Maths, Physics, Chemistry,  Biology, History, Geography etc. At this stage it is difficult for the child to choose few subjects of his choice and aptitude. So general Education is better.  But teachers and parents should not start putting a pressure on the children that they have entered Board Exam classes, therefore they have to score good marks from the beginning of the academic year. This pressure has unpleasant consequences and sows the seed for the children to resist whatever the parents / teachers say  till they finish their schooling. As they can not show their anger on the teachers, they take it out on the parents, especially the mother who is more emotional than the father who may be strict; I the sense the children have the fear of punishment by the father-especially the boys.

This is the age when the children get different kinds of worries about their personal self, their physique, their growth in comparison to friends, un answered questions about sex.  They start day dreaming, share more with friends than parents. Especially with the media influence of present day, the harmones become more active than what it was about 30/40 years back. This is the period the parents’ expectation go up, they are worried about every odd behavior of the child, they are not clear how exactly to treat the children. It is but natural. But the relationship also is not natural.

 (This is another topic which needs elaboration)

Coming back to studies, the curriculum has to be well framed for these transition classes. More of vocational training is to be introduced. This will give a chance for them to identify their interest and talent. Other than academics, some learning in fields like photography, assembling electronic gadgets etc. can be encouraged by crating clubs in schools, other than literary clubs. The children in no way should be influenced by parents, teachers, society about which line of profession is high yielding monetarily, within a short time etc. Let the children decide themselves in what field they want to specialize. There are very many avenues and scope with every subject, provided the child pursues with subject of his choice.